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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Events => Topic started by: amigakit on October 13, 2014, 12:15:54 PM
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Some of the AmigaKit team travelled north to Manchester, UK this weekend for the Play Expo 2014 (http://www.playexpo.net) show.
For those of you who haven't heard of this show, it is a very large computer event with around 25,000 + visitors. A quarter of the show is dedicated to "replay" - this is a retro computer section of the show.
A few years ago, we started attending this show primarily to support the nice guys from Amibay.com. They work very hard to make an Amiga presence at the event every year so we decided to support their efforts in making the Amiga section larger with more Amiga specific exhibits.
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo1_sm.jpeg) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo1.jpeg)
This year, both A-EON and AmigaKit had a table showing Amiga Next Generation and Classic Amiga.
On the Friday, we finished our work at 2pm and filled our vehicles with a plethora of Amiga hardware and software. The long drive north to Manchester lasted 6 hours due to heavy traffic on the M6. Exhausted and tired, we arrived at the venue at 8.15pm. When we arrived, we were in main hall which is *huge*, it seems to they eye as vast as a few sports fields combined, like an over-sized aircraft hanger. There was a flurry of activity as the other exhibitors were busy setting up their stands in preparation for the next day and we were told that some would be there past midnight!
We were shown to our location next to the Amibay.com members. It was great to see them once again and they were helpful in getting us setup. We decided to half set up and return the next day before the main show to complete the process.
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo3_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo3.jpeg)
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo4_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo4.jpeg)
Saturday started at 10am and we had an hour to get ready before the show opened to the public. This year we decided to set up an Amiga 1200 computer with multi-player games and an Amiga CD32 with Microcosm running. On the A-EON stand, we had a white AmigaONE X1000 computer system (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1071) running a beta of AMIStore. Our third section contained upgrades, software and hardware from Individual Computers (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=18) and Elbox (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=19). We also had a large selection of boxed Amiga games on request from a few customers. We showed the new Tales of Gorluth (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1200) from Amiworx as we thought this would be interesting to Amiga gamers as it is a new Amiga game in 2014.
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo8_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo8.jpeg)
Several customers kept our Technician, Christopher, busy asking about various problems and ailments with their Amiga systems. Chris was hoarse after the first day with all the talking and discussion. He fielded questions about many diverse subjects ranging from broken CD32 lasers, capacitors, Amiga audio circuits, defective composite outputs, Amiga 1000 power supplies and that is just what I overheard! Together with the visitors to our stand, Chris brain stormed several repair problems and I hope they result in a few more Classic Amigas being brought back into use.
Merlin from Amibay.com has success in bringing a CDTV to life, unfortunately we did not have any CDTV discs to test it with. His Cub monitor sadly did not survive the trip to the show.
When I attend these events I am always amazed by how many people out there hold special fond affection for the Amiga. They are outside the active community so we had many questions fielded about the AmigaONE X1000. There was astonishment at the advancement of the Amiga Operating System as many did not realise it was still in development. We demonstrated the power of the X1000 and also ran many Classic Amiga titles to show the level of compatibility.
During Saturday, we had long discussions with the friendly Cinemaware (http://www.cinemaware.com) team who visited us at the A-EON stand. Cinemaware games have always been special for me and I suspect many Amiga users over the years. So I was very excited to see the new Wings game which played very nicely on Chris' laptop.
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo6_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo6.jpeg)
I was pleased to talk to "DJEcho" and hear his new tracks that he has composed on OctaMED. He uses an Amiga 1200 and SAM system to make music and he had many demos of his work at the show.
The Saturday event ended at 7pm so we headed off for a hearty meal after a long day.
The following day started promptly at 10am.
The latest Amiga Forever 2014 (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1196) seemed to generate a lot of interest and I demonstrated its features to some ex-Amiga users. They had not seen the package before that and were also surprised that the Competition Pro USB joystick (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1153) had been remade in USB form. One customer told me that the combination of both were small enough to "slip past he wife without her noticing that he had bought more Amiga stuff" !
During the day, we met a few users from Amiga.org and EAB and it was great to put names to faces. Thank you to everyone that introduced themselves to us.
The Sunday show day ended at 6pm where we packed up our stands and made the long trip home. We got back to the office just before midnight - fatigued but it was satisfying to meet so many of our regular customers and new faces.
Next stop: Amiwest.
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo5_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo5.jpeg)
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo7_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo7.jpeg)
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo9_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo9.jpeg)
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo10_sm.JPG) (http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo10.jpeg)
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Hi guys, thanks again for coming - It was great to see you again and I thought you brought an ideal mix of bits to the show.
It's awesome you guys make the effort to support the Amiga community in these events :)
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@fitzsteve
Likewise, great to see you too Steve and the other Amibayers - maybe next year we can make a larger Amiga section in the show!
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Hi too both it was great to see you again and have a chat about various things
its great to see the amiga stuff for sale in person and to buy new
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John- always a pleasure to see you. Thanks for the chats!
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Great show, much bigger than I expected, really enjoyed it, sorry I didn't spend much time at the Amiga area there was too much to see.
Ravi Abbott has a nice little vid on the show and on the latest amiga software thats coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUKBZbIjFN8
kinda forgot to do my own, lol, never mind always nice to see Amiga in the wild, keep up the good work Amigakit. laters
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@AmigaNG
I did not see you there! Sorry I missed you.
@all
Added pictures taken by Chris.
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Hi Matt/Chris
Great to meet you at the show, and I hope the email I sent found you ok? I sent it to the help@ address
Look forward to seeing you at another show soon, and my new mouse from you is brilliant!
Thanks,
Kai.
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It was great to see you too - many thanks for your purchase at the show and the email.
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It seemed like a big party !
thanks for the detailed report and the pictures.
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@AmigaNG
I did not see you there! Sorry I missed you.
You were busy, :).
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You were busy, .
Ah, must have been talking to some other Amigans.
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@amigakit
Thanks for the report and photos :)
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Great report.
Nice to finally meet you guys in person. Thanks for all the advice (and parts) on the A4000, it's coming on nicely!
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LOL
(http://www.amigakit.com/images/playexpo2014/playexpo7.jpeg)
AtariJay and I had stumbled across a rare Follet.... in the wild.... its natural habitat.... it's so rare in fact that I had to hold on to Jay as he takes the photo!
It was a true pleasure to see the Amigakit guys, I had an absolutely great time catching up and talking projects - look forward to chatting again real soon!
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@Zetro
:-D He is very rarely seen in the wild!
Great talking to you. Lets chat very soon, give me a call this week.
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Hah, thanks for reminding me about the soon to be released Wings Remastered, a definate buy since the comments about it so far seems to be quite positive.
Enjoyed Ravi Abbots youtube too from the Expo.
Great stuff ^^
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The Cinemaware guys spent a long time chatting with us as we demonstrated AMIStore. Wings Remastered looked fantastic - they have enhanced the visuals and added a lot of polish to a classic Amiga game.
It was good to see Ravi again and meet Dan Wood.
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Damnit, I finally now work a Mon-Fri working week so I can attend such events, and forget it's on!
Will have to ensure I make next year! Attended Revival this year, which was a good event, but I'd like to see Play Expo, just to get a feel for how the old and new mix.
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Hah, thanks for reminding me about the soon to be released Wings Remastered, a definate buy since the comments about it so far seems to be quite positive.
Its already been released, it was released on PC last Friday.
Others should follow in the following days / weeks.
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When I search on steam;
"Available: 17 October
This game will unlock in approximately 2 days and 1 hour"
FOL:- Sorry clicked EDIT instead of QUOTE, :(.
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When I search on steam;
"Available: 17 October
This game will unlock in approximately 2 days and 1 hour"
Ah, Cinemaware must have released it to the backers early, ;).
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Only 8 hours left ;)
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My little vid is up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSDA2ix7mCc
Not worry about missing me, you guys did seem busy. it great to see the show expanding and getting more popular and yet they seem to still keep to the roots of the show and have more indie games demoed there, great show.